


Memories of a Dysfunctional Family

by orphan_account



Category: Saw (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-16
Updated: 2012-08-27
Packaged: 2017-10-31 07:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/341504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A oneshot collection based around the Matthews family, with other characters appearing occasionally. May or may not be compliant with the movies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out to Lunch

The two sat just outside of the small café, not speaking to each other but rather choosing to simply just stare out at the wave of cars passing by slowly in the midst of traffic. They remained that way for about a minute before finally one coughed to break the silence.

“So,” he started, choosing his words carefully, “Have you even given any thought to what I told you earlier?”

“Of course,” the other replied shortly, grabbing his lemonade and taking a small sip from it, “It’s kind of hard not to when you tell me constantly every single day of my life to think about my actions and consider the consequences. It’s not the first time you’ve talked to me about this, Dad.”

“I’m just trying to look out for you,” he defended, “I can’t protect you forever. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life rotting in a jail cell, do you?”

“It’s just a one-time thing—“

“That’s happened five times over the course of this month!” He sighed before continuing, “Daniel. You aren’t a criminal. Don’t make yourself out to be one.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes and continued staring out at the cars. A minute passed by in silence and Eric wondered if his son was even thinking about the topic at hand anymore; he always seemed to try and shrug the subject off of him and sneak away to do something else. Eric felt a small smirk creep on his face; he wouldn’t allow that this time. If there was anything he was good at, it was interrogation, he liked to think.

“Stop smiling,” Daniel muttered, looking back over to his father, “You look like a criminal yourself when you do that.”

“And how so?”

“I haven’t seen you smile for a long time. Usually you just have this stone-faced expression on your face or you’re just angry yelling about me for some stupid thing. Seeing you smile is creepy. Stop that.”

“Would you prefer it if I smiled every time you steal something from now on? Maybe it would finally knock some sense through your thick head that stealing is against the law.”

“I know it’s against the law,” Daniel looked away.

“Then why do it in the first place?” Eric frowned now, and he felt a small spark of irritation when he noticed Daniel starting to adopt a small smirk of his own. “The only reason I even bail you out from the security rooms is because you’re my son. Anyone else wouldn’t have given you so many chances. I have half a mind to just leave you there next time.”

Another minute passed silently before Daniel replied, “Then do it. I’m not asking you to pick me up. What’s stopping you from just abandoning me like you did with mom?”

“I did not abandon your mother,” Eric felt himself dive deeper into the danger zone, “Your mother left me when she started filing the divorce papers.”

“She wouldn’t have had to file the divorce if you hadn’t started cheating on her with that whore!”

“Kerry is not a whore!” He knew others were watching their debate now, but he could hardly even bring himself to care. “How could you even call her that?! You’ve never even properly met her!”

“I don’t have to meet her to know she is one! She knew you were married, and she went after you anyway! And you’re just to blame; you responded to her come-ons and started going out with her! You think we wouldn’t notice?!” Daniel slammed his hands on the table and stood abruptly, almost knocking the chair behind him over.

Eric felt the normal sensation of his anger spiking to a dangerous level, but struggled to keep it under control. They were in public. This was his son. It would do him no good to explode out here. He spoke in a low voice, “You wouldn’t understand, Daniel. You don’t know how hard it is… to be a police officer. To be an adult. To be me.”

“That’s not an excuse for what you did.”

“I broke up with her.”

“You still went out with her.”

“It’s over now.”

“You still went out with her.”

“We’re not even partners anymore.”

“You still went out with her.”

“Damn it, Daniel; can’t you see that I’m just trying to make things right?” Eric groaned, looking up at his son. “I got caught in an affair, broke it off with the woman who started it all, retired to some boring position of filing paperwork behind a desk that may or may not have to do with my own damn divorce, and now I am having an argument with my only son who hates me. You think you have it hard? What do you do? You go around random stores, taking small worthless items and getting yourself caught; whether it’s on purpose or not, I don’t know and neither do I care. Then all you have to do is sit back and relax until I get your ass out of there and lecture you, and then you go home, sleep, and do it all over again the next day! Who really has the hard life here?”

Daniel was quiet for a moment, and Eric reveled in his short lived victory. His son blinked and could only respond with a low, “I never said my life was worse than yours.”

Eric scoffed. “You sure make it seem like it.”

“You’re assuming things.”

“And I’m correct, aren’t I? If you know and acknowledge that my life is worse than yours, then you only realize that you’re just making it even harder for me, right? Why go around shoplifting? Make it easier for me to go on.”

Daniel didn’t respond. Instead, he chose to slowly lower himself back into his seat and occupy himself with drinking his lemonade from a straw. Eric felt his eyebrow twitch as minutes went by and Daniel hadn’t taken his mouth off the straw even once.

“It doesn’t take that long to drink, Daniel.” His son finally lowered the cup.

“I’m thirsty.”

“You were stalling.”

“No. I was thirsty.”

“You were stalling by drinking from that straw for a long time. Were you even drinking any of it?”

“Of course.”

“The amount of lemonade in your cup hasn’t gone down at all.” Eric pointed to the clear glass. The liquid inside had the glass filled almost to the top.

“… That’s strange.”

“That was a weak argument from the first place, Daniel.”

Daniel kicked his feet under the table, careful not to hit his father’s legs. Eric felt his anger ebb away as more time passed, and looked around to see that the audience watching them either seemed to lose interest or at least pretend not to care anymore. Good. He’d prefer it if they pretended their disinterest rather than stare at them. He took out his wallet and removed a few dollars to pay for the drinks and laid them out on the table before he stood up and grabbed his bag. “Let’s go, Daniel. We’re going home. Unless you want me to drive you to your mom’s place; we can do that, too.”

“I can drive myself,” Daniel muttered as he grabbed his own school bag and hoisted it over his shoulder, “I’m not a child anymore.”

“Whose car did we take from the detention center?” Eric asked sarcastically, fumbling around in his pocket for the keys. “Oh, that’s right, mine. So unless you want to walk yourself over there…”

Daniel took the hint. “Fine, fine. We’ll go to your house. Don’t expect me to talk to you on the way or even after we get there.”

“We still need to discuss your budding criminal life.”

“Haven’t we already done that?”

“Not in enough detail for me.” Daniel groaned and Eric smirked. “I’m only looking out for you, Daniel.”

“You don’t have to. Also, stop smiling.”

“I don’t have to, but I want to. What kind of parent would I be if I didn’t care for my own son? Also, no, I won’t.”

“You’re not exactly the role-model type for a good parent.”

“I never said I was.” The two walked along the perimeter of the café to make it to Eric’s small car. “Get in.”

Daniel muttered, “You don’t have to tell me twice,” before opening the door to the passenger seat and getting inside.

Eric got in the car himself and started the engine whilst thinking over the course of events that had taken place just a few minutes ago. It was his idea to go to the café (Daniel would never propose going anywhere with his father other than home), but he honestly hadn’t expected it to turn out like it did. In retrospect, he really should have.

He looked over his shoulder and saw Daniel fitting headphones over his ears to drown out any conversation his father would possibly want to strike up with him while driving to his house.

Eric sighed, and they drove on in silence.


	2. Office Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric takes Daniel to the police station as a sort of 'bring your child to work' day, as announced by Erickson. There Daniel gets to meet the odd characters his father works with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait in updates. How long has it been? I think I posted this story when I first joined, so... half a year? Wow. I hope other updates won't take so long!
> 
> Also, this chapter takes place about a month or so before the first movie. (Not that important, but it will explain some of the interactions between characters in this chapter.)

The front doors of the police precinct opened and in walked two figures, one familiar with the place and one the other familiars didn’t recognize. The taller of the two led the way past the front desk and into a rather small hallway in the back, stopping only once at a door to fumble with keys in his pocket to switch the lock and make his way inside. The other much smaller figure followed him silently.

“This is my office,” the first man grunted, making his way to his desk and shoving many papers out of the way. He’d get to them later.

The other male looked around in disinterest. “Small place. You aren’t very organized.”

“I’m sure your school desk isn’t much better,” Eric Matthews replied, itching to reach into his pocket for a cigarette but deciding against it. His office had no windows and as much as his son irritated him, he didn’t quite feel like victimizing him to a room full of secondhand smoke.

Daniel seemed to read his mind as he leaned back in a small wooden chair and said, “I thought mom told you to stop smoking. You know she doesn’t like it when you carry a pack around all the time.”

“And I can look out for myself, thank you very much,” Eric replied sarcastically, starting up his computer. The two sat in relative silence, the only sounds in the office being fingers hitting keys on a keyboard and Daniel’s insistent shuffling in his chair. “Would you stop that? It’s annoying.”

“Don’t you have any cushions or something?” Daniel asked, ignoring his father’s semi request. “It’s just a couple blocks of wood stacked on top of each other. I don’t find this very comfortable at all.”

“Good,” was all Eric grunted in response. His son frowned and practically pouted, finally settling on what he deemed to be a somewhat comfortable position and sighed.

A couple more minutes passed before Daniel spoke up again. “I’m bored. Why did you bring me here?”

“Because my boss wanted all of us to bring our children to work. He didn’t say I had to bring you anywhere specifically, so I just brought you in my office.”

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous? This is a police station. What if something happens and I get hurt?”

“Then I laugh.” Eric was met with a cold stare from his son. “… Nothing exciting has happened recently, so I guess he assumed it was safe or something. I don’t know, ask him.”

Before Daniel could come up with a witty reply, the office door opened and in walked one of Eric’s female partners. Daniel swore he saw her somewhere before, but couldn’t quite remember her name. It seemed he didn’t have to, however, as she turned to look at him and a look of what seemed to be surprise crossed her face. “Who is this?”

“This is my kid. His name is Daniel. I think you’ve met him before, Allison. We went out to dinner once and he tagged along, remember?”

Daniel nodded as he remembered. That’s right. His mom wanted him to go along to make sure nothing was going on between his father and the female cop. They swore that they only had a platonic relationship, but his mom was always a bit of a worrier. It was better to be safe than sorry.

“Oh, that’s right,” Kerry laughed a bit and nearly smacked herself for forgetting. “It’s nice to meet you again, Daniel. Did Eric drag you out of school just to watch him figure out how a computer works?”

“Haha. It’s not like he was doing anything else there, anyway,” Eric mumbled, fishing around his pocket for a cigarette to light up and bring to his mouth. He seemed to forget about the enclosed space the three of them were in already. Kerry sensed what he was about to do and lightly walked over to smack his arm, a disapproving look playing across her face. Eric sighed and slipped the box back in his pocket. “What do you want, Allison?”

“I was just going to ask if you finished the paperwork Erickson gave you,” she answered and looked around. “I guess not.” Kerry turned and smiled at Daniel. “If you want, I can give you a tour of the place and let you meet the others who work here. Would you like that?”

Daniel looked at his father for confirmation. Eric merely grunted, so the teenager looked back at the woman and offered her a small smile of his own, “I’d like that. Thank you very much.”

“Oh sure, be nice to her,” Eric rolled his eyes. As the two left, Daniel couldn’t help but childishly stick his tongue out at his father before making it back into the hallway. Eric responded in a similar manner and nearly reprimanded himself right then and there for responding on such a childish level.

Kerry led the teenager out into the small hallway and chuckled aloud, “Sorry the place is such a mess. Erickson announced the bring your child to work day just a few days ago and we really didn’t have much time to clean up. I hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s alright,” Daniel said. He was a little confused as his father said that not much was going on and didn’t understand how they wouldn’t have much time to do as much as a simple spring cleaning, but he decided not to voice his concerns aloud. It wasn’t that important anyway, and he really didn’t mind. It reminded him of his school in a way.

They made it back to the front office where the receptionist sat, looking completely bored. Kerry led Daniel right past her and to the other hallway on the other side of the room. Before they could make it to wherever she was taking him, one of the doors opened in front of them and out walked a tall man. Daniel had to crane his head up to look at him properly. He had an intimidating enough appearance, yet he somehow emitted a kind aura.

“Hey Kerry,” he nodded to the woman. “Who’s that you have with you?”

“Oh,” Kerry moved to the side to allow the man to get a closer look at Daniel. “This is Daniel, Eric’s son. You two have something in common already.” Daniel raised an eyebrow at her words, not quite understanding.

The man laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Oh, Daniel! I remember seeing him when he was hardly able to walk. Still a bit on the short side though, huh?” He ruffled Daniel’s curly hair slightly, and the teenager couldn’t bring himself to move back. “You probably don’t remember me. I’m Daniel Rigg, your father’s best friend.”

Oh. That made sense. Daniel nodded his head at the man, “Hello. Nice to meet you.”

Rigg turned to Kerry. “He’s pretty polite. The complete opposite of what Eric has been telling me.” Daniel felt his eye twitch. His father was telling stories about him…? “It’s nice to meet you too, Daniel. If you ever have a problem with someone in town or have any issues in general, don’t hesitate to talk to me about them, alright?”

“Alright.” Rigg gave him a pat on the back before walking away. Daniel decided that he liked him, even if his father probably named him after his best friend. He didn’t really mind.

“You just met one of the few regulars here,” Kerry told him as they passed a couple more doors. “Technically Erickson isn’t our boss – he’s more of Strahm’s and Perez’s boss. But since our own boss is so incompetent, he kind of takes over for him. I don’t mind, they’re all nice people. I think you’ll like them.”

“If they aren’t all like my father, I think I will, too,” Daniel said in reply. Kerry laughed and opened a door, allowing him to walk in first.

Inside were two men and another woman with a hair similar in style to Kerry’s. The men looked familiar in height and stature, but their hair styles were different. One of them had his hair parted in the middle of his forehead, and the other had it all swooped to the side. The first man sent chills down Daniel’s spine, and the teenager couldn’t figure out why.

“Peter, Mark, Lindsey.” Kerry nodded toward the three of them and they looked to acknowledge the two newcomers. The other woman smiled and quickly made her way over while the men stayed where they were. “This is Daniel. He’s Eric’s son. As far as I know Eric’s the only person who works here that actually has a child, so… make him feel at home, okay?”

“Aw, you’re adorable,” The woman Daniel identified as ‘Lindsey’ (as he was pretty sure the two men in the room wouldn’t have that name) cooed. “I’m Lindsey Perez, but you can just call me whatever you like. The other two over there are Peter Strahm and Mark Hoffman.”

“I’m Strahm,” the man with the hair swooped to one side introduced himself. “It’s nice to meet you, Daniel.”

“Likewise,” Daniel replied. The other man who hadn’t spoken yet, Mark if he remembered correctly, moved from his spot at Strahm’s desk to stand in front of him. Much like with Rigg, Daniel had to look up to see him properly.

“And of course, I’m Mark Hoffman. Pleasure to meet you,” Hoffman held out his hand, and Daniel shook it tentatively. It was large and felt tough; the teenager felt uneasy just making contact with the man. He didn’t know why; Hoffman looked nice enough, but there was just something about him that put him on edge…

“Stop it, Hoffman. Your face is scaring the kid,” Strahm joked, and Hoffman turned to give him a glare but stepped back from Daniel anyway. “How old are you?” He looked up at the sudden question.

“… Sixteen,” Daniel answered. His birthday wasn’t too far away, just in a month or so, but he didn’t feel ready to call himself seventeen just yet. Turning a year older brought too many new responsibilities, even for a teenager.

“Are you going to follow your father’s footsteps and become a police officer, too?” Perez asked inquiringly.

“I don’t know,” Daniel answered honestly with a shrug. “I haven’t really thought much about it…”

“If you can, don’t,” Strahm told him. “You’ll see some pretty gruesome things on the job. Even if you’re one of those kinds of teenagers that think they’re tough and can handle anything, trust me, the things we’ve seen are shocking. You don’t seem that way to me, but still.” He shrugged. “Just saying.”

“Don’t scare him off the job before he’s even old enough to apply,” Kerry laughed softly. “Why don’t you go back to filing those papers Erickson asked you to do?”

“I’ve got Hoffman for that,” Strahm shrugged.

Hoffman frowned. “I’m not your servant. File your own damn papers.” He picked up a large stack of white paper sheets with ease and hurled it at Strahm’s face, which remained stoic even as the pile was ruined and the papers started flying all over.

“You’re cleaning that up,” was all he said. Perez giggled.

“Well, I’ll be taking Daniel somewhere else now,” Kerry announced to the room and lightly tugged on Daniel’s sleeve to get him to follow. He took the hint and walked behind her out of Strahm’s office and back into the hallway, closing the door behind himself. “Those three are always together. They’re a tightknit group, I’d say. Peter and Mark don’t seem to get along very well at first glance, but yet they still do almost everything together despite not being official partners. It’s kind of funny,” she chuckled.

Before she could take another step, shouting and yelling suddenly came from the main office. Her eyes widened and she turned around, worry crossing her face immediately. Behind them, the door to Strahm’s office opened and Perez poked her head out, followed closely by Hoffman and Strahm.

“The hell is that noise?” Hoffman asked. Kerry shook her head and quickly made her way to the source of the commotion. Daniel quickly moved to follow her.

When they arrived back at the front desk, a large man being handled by two other men was in plain sight. He was screaming profanities and obscenities, struggling wildly and trying to throw the other two off. Regardless, he was having difficulty doing so as both of his hands were handcuffed behind his back and he simply resorted to being a human bull, trying to buck them.

“I’ve got this from here, Gibson,” the man with the bushy moustache grunted, and the other man backed off. Moustache man pushed and heaved the much larger man forward and Strahm and Hoffman quickly ran in to help. Together, the three men were able to haul the largest one off to what Daniel assumed the cells.

“That was a tough one, getting him here,” the man known as Gibson sighed as he wiped his forehead. Eric had also walked in, presumably also to see what the commotion was about. “Hey Eric, without you tipping that guy off, we never would have caught him. Too bad you weren’t there to help us, though. Would have saved us a lot of trouble,” he laughed.

Eric frowned. “I’m not on the line of duty anymore, Matt,” he said. “I just work behind a desk now. But I’m glad you caught him. Bastard’s been going around dealing drugs for ages. Find any of his customers yet?”

“Not yet, but we do have a list of people we think might be associated with him. Does the name ‘Mallick Scott’ ring a bell?”

“Not a one.”

“Hmm, I’ll check him out later anyway,” Gibson shrugged. He turned to see Perez, Kerry, and Daniel standing nearby with surprised looks on their faces. “Oh, hello ladies, and… who’s this?”

“That’s my son Daniel,” Eric grunted. “He’s sixteen, turning seventeen in a month. Erickson told us to bring our kids, so here he is. Am I the only one?”

“You’re the only one here besides Rigg who has ever been married, so yes, I suppose,” Perez laughed. “And we all know Tracy has never been pregnant.”

“Shame,” Eric snapped his fingers. “I’d love to be a godfather.”

“Being a father isn’t enough?” Daniel crossed his arms. Despite Kerry and Perez laughing at what they thought was a joke, Eric simply frowned and muttered something under his breath before turning and walking away.

Gibson walked over to the teenager and knelt down to Daniel’s height and gave him a soft smile. “I’m Matt Gibson. It’s very nice to meet you, Daniel,” he held out his hand and Daniel shook it. Gibson gave off a much friendlier vibe than Hoffman did. He was glad for the change.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Gibson,” Daniel nodded.

Gibson laughed, not unkindly. “Just Gibson is fine. Or even Matt if you prefer. I don’t mind either way.”

“Who was the man you arrested?” Daniel asked out of curiosity. Gibson raised an eyebrow at the odd question but answered nonetheless.

“Him? That was Xavier Chavez, a drug dealer. We’re been suspecting him for a long time but never did have any concrete evidence of his dealings until your dad stepped in. He’s a real hero, you know? Now we can save other potential people from becoming under the influence of drugs,” Gibson answered.

“Oh,” was all Daniel said. He knew it was a good thing that someone like Xavier was arrested, but he wouldn’t go as far as to call his dad a hero. Years ago, when he was seven, he most definitely would have, but now he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t know what his dad did while still on active patrol of the town, but he knew that something wasn’t quite right…

“Well, Chavez has been contained. We’ll bring him to the interrogation room later, but I’m not sure what there is to talk about,” the man with the moustache walked back in, scratching the back of his head. His eyes widened and quickly lit up when he saw Daniel. “At least someone listened to my announcement!”

“I don’t have any children and you know that, Erickson,” Gibson laughed. The man known as Erickson laughed and shrugged.

“So what? Welcome to the police station, mister…?”

“M-Matthews,” Daniel answered. “Eric is my dad.”

“Ah, Eric’s kid. He’s a valuable cop on this force, he is. Wouldn’t know what we would do without him.”

“What am I, chopped liver?” Hoffman muttered, walking in from behind.

“Well, he was valuable when he was still on the force, obviously. But he’s still helpful even while sitting behind a desk nowadays.”

“That’s hard to believe,” Daniel said. Whether Erickson didn’t hear him or simply chose to ignore him, he didn’t know.

“Either way, it’s really nice to meet you,” Erickson shook the teenager’s hand. “I do hope you’ll consider joining as a cop someday; it’d be nice to have the son of one of our best cops here enlist as well.”

“You’ll be cold and dead by then,” Hoffman said darkly. Erickson shook his head.

“Still have your sense of humor, I see.”

“Ignore him,” Strahm spoke up. “He’s always like that. I honestly don’t know why you keep him around. Fire his ass.”

“I still do a fine job around here,” Hoffman countered. “What do you do, Strahm?”

“I’m a special agent,” Strahm said. “Higher ranking than you.”

“That’s enough, boys,” Perez stepped in. “No need to make a show for me and Daniel, as entertaining as that would be.”

“I agree,” Kerry nodded and moved to grab Daniel’s hand, catching the teenager by surprise. “Come on, Daniel. I think you’ve met all of the regulars here; might as well bring you back to your dad. I’d show you our holding cells, but the guy you just saw is the only person there right now, and I don’t think you’d want to talk to him.”

Daniel nodded and followed the woman as she led him past Hoffman and Erickson and back to Eric’s office. They entered to see Eric and Rigg in the middle of an arm wrestling match, the papers shoved off the desk and scattered to the floor. Rigg seemed to be teasing Eric, clearly being able to win the match easily but not ending it out of amusement from the other’s reaction.

“You and your damn muscle strength,” Eric muttered, forcing his arm to move to the side but not busting Rigg’s an inch. “I hate you.”

“What are you doing?” Daniel asked.

“Daniel!” Eric immediately let go of Rigg’s hand and kicked the other man’s chair away. He slammed his arm back down on the desk. “Arm wrestle me.”

“What? No!”

“You lost!” Rigg shouted.

“Shut up!” Eric snapped in response before turning back to his son. “Daniel, get over here.”

“No!”

“Why the hell not?”

“Why should I?”

“So I can have someone easy to beat, now get over here!”

“I can beat you in an arm wrestling match!”

“Oh, really?”

“Really!”

“Then get over here and prove it to me!”

“Fine!” Daniel jumped from Kerry’s side and grabbed a nearby chair to sit in. Rigg laughed and leaned forward in his own seat to view the match. It lasted all of two seconds before Eric quickly moved his arm and forced Daniel’s own to the table, pinning him there.

“Victory!” Eric shouted in triumph.

“Cheater,” Daniel mumbled, rubbing his arm as soon as his father let go.

Kerry shook her head. “What just happened here?”

“Like father, like son, I guess,” Rigg shrugged and laughed as Daniel demanded a rematch. Eric refused and gloated in his victory as his son pouted and sat back in his chair, seemingly forgetting everything that had happened just five minutes earlier.

Kerry sighed and ran a hand through her hair before turning to leave the office. Boys will be boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly didn't know how to end this, lol. So I ended it on a relatively silly note. Hope you liked it! If you have a request for a oneshot, don't hesitate to tell me! Part of the reason for update delays is because I had no idea what to write next. :C


End file.
